


I Was Taught To Fear the Dark

by SparrowEyedGirl



Category: Supernatural
Genre: F/F, F/M, Supernatural - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-24
Updated: 2016-06-08
Packaged: 2018-05-28 16:59:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 15,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6337561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SparrowEyedGirl/pseuds/SparrowEyedGirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My name is Sara Jean Winchester.  I hunt demons for a living.  It's been apart of my life since my mom died -- hell it is my life at this point.  What can I say, it's the only thing I'm good at, even dropped out of high school to do it.  Not that it matters.  Everything was fine, as normal as it could be.  Normal... until dad disappeared.  Now, my brothers and I have to find him.  This... might be hell.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Another Meeting

Another Meeting

 

“Dean, he's not going to want to come with us.”

“We gotta try, Sara. It's dad, he can't just ignore it.”

Sara Jean Winchester sighed and turned her blue eyes to the window, more long hair falling out of her already messy bun. The 22-year-old didn't bother to fix it.

“Don't act like you're not happy to see your brother again,” Dean joked, cracking half a smile.

Sara smiled, her dimple on her right cheek showing. “I am happy to see Sammy again. Just not under these circumstances.”

Dean nodded, and the brother and sister drove the rest of the way in silence.

They arrived at the apartment after about another half hour, and Sara stood from the passenger seat, stretching her limbs.

“What's the plan, Stan?” Sara asked. “Knock on the front door?”

“Nah,” Dean replied. “I gotta test his hunting skills.”

Sara raised an eyebrow. “You're going to break into the house,” she said. It wasn't a question.

“Well, it's a little late for knocking, now isn't it?” Dean replied, his tone sarcastic.

“Smart-ass,” Sara grumbled, causing Dean to smile again.

He started to walk towards to apartment, but Sara didn't follow, opting to lean against the black car instead. Dean sensed this and turned around, throwing his hands up in the air.

“What?!” Sara demanded. “I'm not getting arrested for breaking and entering!”

“It's Sammy!” Dean hissed. “He's not going to call the police on us!”

“You don't know that!”

“Fine,” her brother replied, exasperated. “You can just wait alone. Outside. In the dark.”

Satisfied with Sara's wide-eyed expression, he turned on his heel and walked towards the apartment.

“Dean!” she hissed. No answer. She tried one more time, still no answer. Sara grumbled angrily and ran after him, slowing down once she had run up the stairs and caught up.

“That was mean,” she told him. “You know how much I hate the dark.”

Dean shrugged and continued to pick the lock. Eventually, he managed to get the door open, and the two entered the apartment. Quietly, Dean shut the door, and turned to Sara. He nodded to a darkened corner, and Sara rolled her eyes. He was always so overprotective.

Sara went to the corner anyway, knowing that if Sam attacked her, he would pin her with his size advantage. Sara didn't take well to losing.

The brunette girl watched as Dean tugged open a window, which opened with a noise that would wake up anyone in the house. Her brother then skirted around the house, making sure Sam would see him, no matter where his room was.

And see him, Sam did.

Sara saw her twin brother wait quietly while Dean entered the living room once again, then pounced. There was a moment of heated fighting, and ended when Dean pinned his younger brother.

“Whoa, easy, tiger!”

“Dean?” Sam questioned, his tone heavily confused. “You scared the crap outta me!”

“That's 'cause you're out of practice.”

To prove a point, Sam turned the tables and pinned Dean.

“Or not,” Dean said with a chuckle. “Get off me.”

Sam stood and helped Dean up, and Sara stepped out of the corner. Sam noticed the movement and looked over.

  
“Sara?”

Sara smiled. “Hey, Sammy.”

“What the hell are you two doing here?”

“Well, I was looking for a beer. Sara was just afraid of the dark, as per usual,” Dean explained, clapping Sam on the shoulders. Sara glared at him, her eyes scanning the small room for something to throw at his head.

“Sam?” a fourth voice asked. The lights were turned on, and three heads swiveled to the source of the voice. An attractive blonde woman was standing in the doorway, wearing very little clothing. Sara stifled a laugh at how Dean stood like a dog at attention.

“Jess, hey. Dean, Sara, this is my girlfriend, Jessica.”

“Wait, your siblings, Dean and Sara?” Jess asked with a smile, ignoring Dean's attentive stare.

“I love the Smurfs,” Dean told her. “You know, I've gotta tell you, you are way out of my brother's league.”

“Dean, don't be an ass,” Sara scolded.

“Let me put something on,” Jess said, rolling her eyes.

“No, no, I wouldn't dream of it. Seriously.”

“Dean, stop being a dog for two seconds. We didn't come here for the girlfriend,”she interjected. Sara stepped forward, moving quietly on her worn hiking boots, and looked at Jess apologetically before continuing. “Anyway, we've gotta borrow your boyfriend here, talk about some private family business, but it was nice meeting you.”

“No,” Sam said after a moment, moving to stand by Jess. “No, whatever you want to say, you can say it in front of her.”

“Okay...” Sara replied.

“Dad hasn't been home in a few days,” Dean told him.

“So he's working over time on a 'Miller Time' shift, he'll stumble in sooner or later,” Sam replied. Sara glared at him.

“Dad's on a _hunting trip_. And he hasn't been home in a few days,” she told him, anger coloring her tone.

Silence.

“Jess, excuse us.”

 

“I mean, come on! You can't just break in, middle of the night and expect me to hit the road with you!”

“You're not hearing me, Sammy. Dad's missing.”

“We need you to help us find him,” Sara added.

“Remember the poltergeist in Amherst? Or the Devil's Gates in Clifton, he was missing then, too, he's always missing, and he's always fine.”

“Not for this long,” Dean said. “Now, are you gonna come with us or not?”

“I'm not.”

“Why not?” Sara demanded.  
“I swore I was done hunting. For good.”

“Come on, it wasn't easy, but it wasn't that bad,” Sara told him. Both Dean and her turned on their heel and walked toward the front door.

“Yeah? When I told dad I was scared of the thing in my closet, he gave me a .45!”

“Well, what was he supposed to do?”

“I was nine years old! He was supposed to say... 'don't be afraid of the dark'!”

“'Don't be afraid of the dark'? Are you kidding me, of course you should be afraid of the dark, you know what's out there!”

“Yeah, I know, but still, the way we grew up after mom was killed and dad's obsession to find the thing that killed her, but we _still_ haven't found the damn thing! So we kill everything we can find!”

“Save a lot of people doing it, too,” Sara added.

“You think mom would've wanted this for us?” Sam demanded. Dean angrily opened the door and left the building, followed by Sara and Sam.

“The weapon training and melting the silver into bullets? Man, Dean, we were raised like warriors!”

“So what are you going to do? You just gonna live some normal, apple pie life? Is that it?”

“No, not normal. Safe.”

“And that's why you ran away?”

“I was just going to college. It was dad who said if I was going, I should stay gone. That's what I'm doing.”

“Yeah, well, dad's in real trouble right now, if he's not dead already, we can feel it,” Sara told her twin, her eyes begging Sam to join them. “We can't do this alone, Sammy.”

“Yes, you can.”

“Yeah, well, we don't want to.”

Sam sighed heavily, taking a few moments to pause and think.

“What was he hunting?”

Dean looked at Sam before opening the trunk. He, then, opened a case of weapons and started digging around.

“Alright, let's see, where the hell did I put that thing?” he muttered to himself.

“So, when dad left, why didn't you two go with him?”

“I had my own gig. Some voodoo thing down in New Orleans.”

“Dad let you go on a hunting trip by yourself?” Sam asked Dean.

“I'm 26, dude,” Dean replied.

Sam looked at Sara. “And what about you?”

“Werewolf up in Toronto. Yes, by myself. I'm 22, I'm legal. Can't say it was fun, though,” Sara informed him, motioning to the angry claw marks that streaked down her upper arm.

Dean stiffened as he saw Sam glare at him.

“You let our anxiety prone sister who's afraid of the dark hunt a werewolf alone?” he demanded. He was as overprotective of his twin as Dean was of his little sister.

“Well... when you say it like that, I sound like an ass,” Dean said, quickly changing the subject by pulling out a printed obituary. “Alright, here we go. So dad was checking out some two-land blacktop just outside of Jericho, California. About a month ago this guy, they found his car but he vanished. Completely MIA.”

“So maybe he was kidnapped,” Sam contradicted.

“Yeah, well, here's another one in April, another one in December '04, '03, '98, '92, ten of them in the past twenty years. All men, all same five mile stretch of road. Started happening more and more, so, dad went to go dig around.”

“That was about three weeks ago. We haven't heard from him since, which is bad enough, then Dean gets this voice mail yesterday,” Sara told him.

_“Dean, Sara, something is starting to happen, I think it's serious. I don't know what's going on--”_

There were sounds of distortion before the voice mail continued.

_“-- be very careful. We're all in danger.”_

The voice mail ended, and Sam looked at his siblings. “You know there's EVP on that?”

“Not bad, Sammy.”

“Kind of like riding a bike isn't it?” Sara asked, gently elbowing her twin. He looked at her, shaking his head.

“I slowed the message down and ran it through a GoldWave, took out the hiss and this is what I got,” Dean said, bringing the conversation back to the original topic.

“ _I can never go home,_ ” a female voice hissed solemnly.

“Never go home...” Sam mused.

Dean shrugged and shut the weapons case, followed by the trunk. “You know, in almost two years, we've never bothered you, never asked you for a thing.”

Sam sighed and looked back at the building. He looked back at them, but not at Dean, at Sara. Her eyes pleaded him to help, to go with them.

“All right,” Sam said. “I'll go. I'll help you find him, but I have to be back first thing Monday. Just wait here.”

“What's first thing Monday?” Sara asked.  
“I have an interview.”

“What, a job interview? Skip it,” Dean said.

“It's a law-school interview, and it's my whole future on a plate.”  
“Law school?”

“So we got a deal or not?” Sam asked.

Sara and Dean nodded.

 


	2. Jericho, California

Jericho, California

 

“So... how have you been?”

Sara looked up to see Sam turned towards her, eyebrows raised slightly. She smiled at him.

“Good... I've been good.”

Sam nodded. “Ever go back to school? Get your GED?”

Sara sighed and looked away. She remembered how angry Sam was when she told him she had dropped out of school. He had practically murdered Dean for “being a bad influence”. The only thing that calmed him down was the promise she would go back to school.

“So law school, huh?” Sara asked, avoiding the subject.

She looked back to see Sam roll his eyes. “Yeah. Maybe I can defend you or Dean when you two land yourselves in jail.”

“Oh come on, we're not going to land ourselves in jail!” Sara exclaimed, but the twins laughed anyway.

“Hey, you want breakfast?” Dean asked from outside the car.

“No, thanks,” Sam replied.

“I do, I'm starving,” Sara said. Sam rolled his eyes again.

“You're always hungry.”

“Shut up!” she said, smacking his shoulder. He smiled.

“How'd you pay for that stuff? You three still running credit card scams?”

“Yeah well, hunting ain't exactly a pro-ball career.”

“All we do is apply, it's not our fault the they send us the cards,” Sara defended.

“Yeah?” Sam asked. “And what names did you write on the application this time?”

“Uh... Bert Aframian and his son, Hector,” Dean replied, getting back in the car. “Scored two cards out of the deal.”

The two shut the car doors, and Dean handed some food back to Sara. She nodded her thanks.

“Sounds about right,” Sam said, nodding. “I swear, man, you got to update your cassette-tape collection.”

Sara snorted and rolled her eyes.

“Why?” Dean asked.

“Well, for one, they're cassette tapes. And two, Black Sabbath, Motorhead, Metallica?”

“Well you know Dean, he loves the greatest hits of mullet rock,” Sara grumbled, and Dean glanced back at her, his eyes glaring.

“House rules, Sammy, and apparently Sara who has never complained before and suddenly decides to because her twin is in the car.”

Sara let out a bark of laughter and shook her head. To be honest, she'd always hated her brothers taste in music and voiced it constantly. He just wasn't able to hear it, chose not to hear it, or wasn't around to hear it.

“Driver picks the music, shotgun and back seat shuts their cake holes.”

“Sammy is a chubby 12-year-old,” Sam said. “It's Sam.”

“Sorry I can't hear you, music's too loud,” Dean replied. Sara smacked his shoulder.

“Smart ass,” she grumbled.

They drove away from the gas station, leaving behind a cloud of dust. Sara sighed and stared out the window, laying her head on the heated glass. Soon, she fell asleep.

 

They passed by a sign that read “ _Jericho 7_ ”. Dean looked in the rear view mirror to see Sara still peacefully sleeping. He sighed. He didn't want to wake her, but they'd be there soon.

“All right, so there's no one matching dad at the hospital or morgue, so that's something I guess,” Sammy told him, pulling Dean out of his daze. He nodded, and quickly noted the amount of police vehicles surrounding a bridge under construction.

“Check it out,” he said, nodding to the bridge.

Dean pulled over and shut the car off, and the brothers surveyed the scene. Police cars and men everywhere, blocking whatever the crime scene was. Dean sighed and opened the glove box, pulling out a wooden box. He opened it, rooting through the various I.D.'s he had taken over the years.

He pulled one out and turned to the backseat.

“Sara,” he said, shaking her shoulder. Immediately, his sister's eyes opened and she looked at him.

“We got ground to cover.”

She nodded, and the Winchesters climbed out of the car and walked towards the crime scene. There was a car that was in the middle of the bridge, turned to the right slightly. Policemen were down the bridge, looking in the river, and two were investigating the car.

“No sign of struggle, no footprints, no fingerprints – spotless. It's almost too clean.”

“So this kid, Troy – he's dating your daughter, isn't he?”

“Yeah.”

“How's Amy doing?”

“She's putting up missing posters downtown.”

“You had another one like this last month, didn't you?” Dean asked.

“And who are you?” the sheriff asked, looking at the three suspiciously.

“Federal marshals,” Dean replied, flashing the badge.

“You three are a little young for marshals, aren't you?”

“Thanks, that's awfully kind of you,” Dean told him, stepping towards the car. “You did have another one just like this, correct?”

“Yeah, that's right. 'Bout a mile up the road. There have been others before that.”

“So this victim – you knew him?” Dean heard Sam ask.

“A town like this, everybody knows everybody.”

“Any connection between the victims besides that they're all men?” Dean heard Sara ask.

“No, not so far as we can tell.”

“So... what's the theory?” Sara asked while Sam joined Dean in inspecting the car.

“Honestly, we don't know. Serial murderer, kidnapping ring.”

“Well, that is exactly the kind of crack police work I'd expect out of you guys,” Dean said. Sam stepped on his foot and Sara glared icily at him. Dean grunted, but didn't break eye contact with the sheriff.

“Thank you for your time,” Sam and Sara said together.

“Gentlemen,” Sam added, and the three of them walked back towards the car.

Once they were far enough away, Dean smacked the back of Sam's head.

“Ow! What was that for!”

“Why do you have to step on my foot?” Dean demanded.

“Why do you have to talk to police like that?” Sammy demanded right back.

“Come on! They don't really know what's going on. We're all alone on this, I mean, if we're gonna find dad, we've got to get to the bottom of this thing ourselves.”

Sara cleared her throat, and when Dean looked at her, she looked behind him. Dean turned to see another sheriff with two FBI agents.

“Can I help you?” the sheriff asked.

“No sir, we were just leaving. Agent Muller, Agent Scully.”

The three stepped around the sheriff, Dean and Sam leading, Sara behind them. Dean was just about to turn to his younger sister and ask why she was lagging behind, when he felt her smack the back of his head. When he saw Sammy's head snap forward, he guessed she smacked the back of his head as well.

“What was that for?” Dean demanded.

“For being idiots,” Sara told them angrily, squeezing between the two of them and getting in the car. The two brothers looked at each other before shrugging and following her.

 

They ended up driving downtown in search of Amy, one of the policemen's daughters who was dating the most recent victim. After about a half hour of walking, following the missing posters, they stumbled across a girl in a pair of jeans and a brown jacket.

“I bet you that's her,” Dean said.

“Yeah,” Sam replied.

Sara turned to her brothers. “Please let me handle this. I don't trust you two to talk to a teenage girl in denial.”

Both of her brothers rolled their eyes, but agreed, and the three approached her.

“You must be Amy,” Sara said gently.

“Yeah,” the dark-haired girl with heavy eyeliner replied.

“Troy told us about you, we're relatives. Aunt and uncles. I'm Sara, this is Dean and Sam.”

“He never mentioned you to me,” Amy replied, confused.

“Well, that's Troy I guess,” Sara said with a laugh, following the girl as she went to put up the next poster. “We're not around much, we're up in Modesto.”

“So, we're looking for him, too, and we're kind of asking around,” Sam interjected. Sara glared at him, but was glad he kept his voice gentle. He stepped around Sara and in front of Amy, stopping her from walking.

“Hey, are you okay?” a girl with equally heavy eyeliner asked, touching Amy's arm, and Sara moved so the friend could stand next to her.

“Yeah,” Amy told her reassuringly.

“Do you mind if we ask you a couple of questions?” Sara asked.

Amy shook her head, and the three of them headed to a small cafe.

“So, what happened the night Troy went missing?” Sara asked when they had settled and ordered something to drink, careful to not use the word 'died'.

“I was on the phone with Troy. He said he would call me right back, and he never did.”

“He didn't say anything strange or out of the ordinary?” Sam asked.

“No, nothing I can remember.”

“Here's the deal, ladies,” Dean said, interjecting for the first time. “The way Troy disappeared – something's not right. So if you've heard anything...”

The two friends looked at each other, and Sara could tell they were silently debating something. Sara exchanged a look with her two brothers.

“What is it?” she asked them.

“Well, it's just – I mean with all these guys going missing, people talk.”

“What do they talk about?”

“It's kind of this local legend. This one girl, she got murdered out on Centennial, like, decades ago. Well, supposedly, she's still out there. She hitchhikes, and whoever picks her up... well, they disappear forever.”

The Winchesters exchanged yet another look. The three of them knew that this was the cause for all of the disappearances.

_Looks like we have another demon to hunt._

 

After saying goodbye to Amy and her friend, the three of them went to the library to do research on the town legend. They crowded around the computer, while Dean pulled up the Jericho archives.

_Female murder hitchhiking_

No results.

_Female murder Centennial highway._

No results.

“Let me try,” Sam said.

“I got it,” Dean replied angrily, batting his brother's hand away. Sara rolled her eyes, as did Sam. Sam pushed Dean out of the way.

“Dude,” Dean said angrily as he almost ran into Sara. “You're such a control freak.”

Sam sighed as his siblings repositioned themselves around the computer again.

“So angry spirits are born out of a violent death, right?” he said.

“Yeah.”

“Maybe it's not murder.”

_Female suicide Centennial highway_

One result found.

“This was 1981, 'Constance Welch, 24 years old jumps off Sylvania Bridge and drowns in the river.'”

“Does it say why she did it?” Sara asked.

“Yeah.”  
“Why?”

“An hour before they found her, she calls 911. Her two little kids are in the bathtub, she leaves them alone for a minute, and when she comes back, they aren't breathing. Both die.”

Sara exhaled, sadness gripping her heart for a moment.

“That's... horrible,” she breathed.

“'Our babies were gone and Constance just couldn't bear it,' says husband, Joesph Welch.”

“That bridge look familiar to you?” Dean asked, and Sara looked closely.

“That's the bridge where they found Troy's car,” she said, and Dean nodded.

 


	3. Mrs. Constance Welch

Mrs. Constance Welch

 

“So this is where Constance took a swan dive,” Dean mused, looking over the edge of the bridge.

“Don't talk like that,” Sara scolded. It was night, Sara didn't know what demons were hiding. She was already jittery.

“So you think dad would have been here?” Sam asked, pulling the two out of their conversation before an argument could ensue.

“Well, he's chasing the same story, and we're chasing him.”

“Okay, so now what?”

“Now we keep digging till we find him.”

“Might take awhile,” Sara mused, remembering the promise they made to Sam. But did Dean?

“Dean, I told you, I gotta get back by--”

“Monday. Right... the interview.”

“Yeah.”

“I forgot. You're really serious about this aren't you? You think you're just going to become some lawyer? Marry your girl?”

“Maybe. Why not?”

“Dean...” Sara said, her voice warning. She didn't want her brothers to fight.

“Does Jessica know the truth about you? Does she know about the things you've done?”

“No, and she's not ever going to know.”

“Well that's healthy. You can pretend all you want, Sammy, but sooner or later you're gonna have to face up to who you really are.”

Sara sighed. At least they weren't yelling at each other...

“And who is that?” Sam demanded, his voice hard.

“One of us.”

“No! I'm not like you, or Sara! This is not going to be my life! I'm not going to be some high school dropout turned demon hunter!” Sam exclaimed, and Sara flinched back.

_What the hell did I do?_

“Well you have a responsibility, and you leave Sara out of this,” Dean replied, his voice calm.

“To dad and his crusade?” Sam asked. “If it weren't for pictures, Sara and I wouldn't even know what mom looks like. And what difference would it make? Even if we do find the thing that killed her, mom's gone. And she isn't coming back.”

He looked at Sara, who was shaking her head. “Don't shake your head at me, you know I'm right!”

Dean glared at Sam while Sara tried blink away the tears in her eyes before grabbing his jacket and pinning him to the metal bridge.

“Dean!” she yelled, trying to pull him off. Her brother stood his ground.

“Don't talk about her like that. And I told you to keep Sara out of this,” he said, his voice still calm. He let go of Sam's jacket, and Sara backed away from the both of them, still unsuccessfully trying to blink tears out of her eyes. She hated it when her brothers fought, especially when she was brought into it.

She sighed and looked up, and that's when she noticed a beautiful, dark-haired woman in a white dress standing on the edge of the bridge.

Constance.

She looked at her two brothers before looking back at the ghost, whose chilling stare bore into them. She, then, looked back at the water, and pushed herself forward.

The three siblings ran to where she once stood, the argument forgotten.

“Where'd she go?”

“I don't know.”

Sara froze when she heard the engine of the car start.

“What the...”

“Who's driving your car?” Sam asked.

“Constance,” Sara breathed, and Dean pulled the keys out of his pocket, confirming her suspicions.

The tires squealed, and the car lurched forward, coming at them with speed Sara didn't even know the car could achieve in a short amount of time. Sara grabbed the sleeves of her two brother's jackets, persuading them to run. With the car quickly gaining on them, they ran down the bridge.

_This isn't gonna work, we're gonna die!_

Suddenly, Dean pulled her arm and ran to the side of the bridge, jumping over the ledge. Sam and Sara quickly followed, though the two siblings hung onto the railing, and not a moment later, the car stopped just inches from the edge.

 

After a moment of catching her breath, Sara pulled her legs up so her worn hiking boots clung to the metal railing.

“Dean!” she called out.

“What?”

She looked underneath them to see her brother covered in mud, laying on the rocky bank.

“You alright?” she asked. He shot her a thumbs up.

“I'm super,” he replied sarcastically. Sam and Sara both laughed before Sam lifted himself back onto the bridge, then offering his hand down to Sara. She looked at it for a moment before grunting her thanks and letting him help her back onto the bridge. Dean shortly joined them.

“Car alright?” Sam asked.

“Yeah, whatever she did to it, it seems alright now. That Constance chick – what a bitch!”

“We almost died, can you not talk like that?!” Sara demanded.

“She doesn't want us digging, that's for sure,” Sam mused as Dean sat on the hood of the car, followed by Sara.

“So where's the trial go from here, genius?” Sam asked, sitting down next to Dean.

Dean shrugged and shook some of the mud off of him. Sara smelled the air and wrinkled her nose.

“You smell like a toilet,” she told him, covering her nose with her unbuttoned, plaid over shirt.

 

They found a run down motel and parked the car, walking in and going to the front desk.

“One room, please,” Dean said, throwing the credit card down.

The hotel manager looked at the card and looked back at them. “You guys havin' a family reunion or somethin'?”

“What do you mean?” Sara asked nervously.

“That other guy, Bert Aframian. He came in and bought out a room for the whole month.”

The siblings exchanged looks.

_Dad._

 

They managed to get the room number, though weren't able to get a key. Once they found the room, Sara picked the lock and went inside, followed by her two siblings. Pictures were hung up all over the walls, books strewn across the bed, food laying on the counters. Sara sighed, glad she wasn't staying with him.

She could hear his voice now.

_“Sara, sweetie, can you clean this up for me?”_

_“Hey Sara, can you do the dishes?”_

_“Honey, can you put these away?”_

Sara shook her head and stared at a salt circle her father had made. Her eyebrows and heart rate raised. Why was he so paranoid?

“I don't think he's been here for a couple days at least.”

“Salt... cat's eye shells... he was worried, trying to keep something from coming in,” Sam mused.

“What do you got here?” Sam asked, looking at the wall Dean was investigating.

“Centennial highway victims,” Dean replied. “I don't get it. I mean, different men, different jobs, ages, ethnicities... there's always a connection right?”

“What do these guys have in common?” Sara mused, fingering one of the posters.

“Dad figured it out,” Sam told them.

“What do you mean?” Dean asked, while Sara turned and looked at where her twin was standing.

“He found the same article we did. Constance Welch – she's a woman in white.”

“You sly dogs,” Dean said to the posters. Sara rolled her eyes and started pacing.

“All right, so if we're dealing with a woman in white, dad would've found the corpse and destroyed it,” she said.

“She might have another weakness,” Sam replied.

“No, dad would want to make sure. He'd dig her up. Does it say where she's buried?” Dean asked.

“No, not that I can tell. If I were dad, though, I'd go ask her husband,” Sam answered.

“If he's still alive,” Sara interjected.

“Alright, why don't you and Sara go find an address, I'm gonna get cleaned up,” Dean suggested.

“Hey, Dean? What I said earlier, about mom and dad – I'm sorry.”

“No chick flick moments,” Dean replied.

“All right, jerk.”

“Bitch,” Dean said, the corners of his mouth twitching into a smile.

Sam rolled his eyes and turned to Sara. His expression softened.

“And I'm sorry for bringing you into it,” he apologized. Sara smiled.

“It's okay. I might forgive you,” she said, and he laughed. Sara laughed, too, and quickly wrapped her arms around his middle.

“I really did miss you, Sam,” she mumbled into his jacket as he snaked his arms around her shoulders.

“Missed you too,” he replied, and Sara smiled.

“Let's find that address,” Sara said, sitting on the bed and digging through her father's stack of papers.

When Sam didn't join her, she looked up to see him staring at something in his hand. Her eyebrows furrowed, and she got up to see what he was looking at.

Immediately, tears formed in her blue eyes.

It was a picture of her father, Sam, Dean, and herself, bundled up in winter clothes. Her father holding onto Sara and Sam, who couldn't be more than three, and Dean smiling happily. The children smiling without a care in the world, and while their father was smiling with them, his eyes looked... pained. Lost, almost.

“Sammy?” Sara said, flinching when her voice cracked. Sam looked down at her.

“We've got an address to find.”

 

They had just found Joesph Welch's address, and Sam decided to check his voice mail before he and Sara headed to his house.

“Hey man,” Dean said, coming out of the bathroom and flipping the light switch down. “I'm starving, I'm gonna grab a little something to eat at that diner down the street, you want anything?”

“Nah.”

“Aframian's buying,” Dean told him with a smirk. “Sara? You want anything?”

“You already know I do,” Sara said, looking her brother in the eye and tying her long hair back.

“What do you want?”

“Hm... surprise me.”

Dean shrugged and left the motel room.

“What?”

Sara looked up at Sam, her eyebrows furrowing at his tone of voice.

_“Dude, five-0. Get out of there.”_

“What about you?”

_“Uh, they kind of spotted me. Go find dad. Take care of Sara.”_

Sam put his phone away and looked at Sara, whose blue eyes were wide.

“We have to go. Police.”

Sara nodded, and the two quickly left the motel room, taking with them the family picture.

 

 


	4. 35-111

35-111

 

Sam noticed Sara's hands wouldn't stop shaking. He was sure it wasn't the first time Sara had seen him get arrested, but hell, what did he know? Maybe it was. Maybe she was just worried about him, or afraid they would get caught, too.

They arrived at the home of Joesph Welch, parked the car, and walked to the front door. Sam knocked, and they only had to wait a moment before an older man opened the front door.

“Hi, are you Joesph Welch?” Sam asked.

“Yes,” he replied.

As thoroughly but quickly as he could, Sam explained he was looking for a missing person. Joesph nodded and decided it would be easier for them to talk outside, so he shut the front door, and they began to walk around his property, Sara on his right, Sam on his left.

Sam handed him the picture and pointed to his father.

“Yeah, he was older, but that's him,” Joesph told Sam, handing him the photo, which Sam stowed away in his pocket. “He came by three or four days ago, said he was a reporter.”

“That's right, we're working on a story together,” Sam said, continuing the story.

“Well I don't know what the hell kind of story you're workin' on – the questions he asked me.”

“About your late wife, Constance?” Sara asked.

“He asked me where she was buried,” Joesph told them.

“And where is that, again?”

“What I got to go through this twice?”

“I'm afraid so, some of the information wasn't relayed to us. Not to mention fact check, if you don't mind. Sometimes he can be a little forgetful, we like to be as accurate as possible,” Sara explained, her eyes so convincing. Sam wondered when she became such a good liar – she used to be horrible at it.

“In a plot behind my old place over on Breckenridge,” Joesph told her.

“Why did you move?” Sam asked.

“I'm not gonna live in the house where my children died,” Joesph explained, as if it was so obvious.

“Mr. Welch, did you ever marry again?”

“No way. Constance, she was the love of my life. Prettiest woman I ever known,” Joesph mused.

“So you had a happy marriage,” Sara said.

“Definitely,” Joesph replied, though after a pause. Sam didn't like the pause, and he could tell Sara didn't either.

“Well, that should do it, thanks for your time,” Sam said, turning and walking away. Sara, however, didn't follow, and Mr. Welch noticed.

“Somethin' else I can help you with?”

“Mr. Welch, you ever hear of a woman in white?” she asked him.

“A what?”

“A woman in white, or sometimes a weeping woman?”

“It's a ghost story, well, it's more of a phenomenon, really,” Sam added.

“They're spirits. They've been sighted for hundreds of years, dozens of places in Hawaii and Mexico, lately in Arizona, Indiana. All these are different women, but they all share the same story.”

“Miss, I don't care too much for nonsense,” Joesph told Sara, turning and walking away.

“You see, when they were alive, they had husbands who were unfaithful to them,” Sara said, following him. “And these women, basically suffering from temporary insanity, murdered their children.”

“Then once they realized what they had done, they took their own lives. So now their spirits are cursed, walking back roads, waterways... and if they find an unfaithful man, they kill him, and that man is never seen again,” Sam finished.

“You think... you think that has something to do with Constance... you smart ass?”

“You tell us,” Sara replied.

“I mean maybe... maybe I made some mistakes... but no matter what I did, Constance never would have killed her own children! Now... you two get the hell out of here, and you don't come back!”

He turned and walked back towards his home. This time, the twins let him go.

 

Sam dropped Sara off, warning her to be careful.

“I want to come with you,” she said, resting her hip against the open passenger side and holding the door with her right hand.

Sam shook his head. “Look for more clues on this and call me if you get something, okay?”

Sara sighed and nodded. She watched as Sam drove away, and walked with her head down towards the library.

Before she reached the library, she got a call from Dean. Confused, she flipped open her phone and answered the call.

“Hello?”

_“I busted out.”_

“What? How?”

_“With a paperclip, how else?”_

“They weren't watching?”

_“Sammy made a fake police call, didn't he tell you?”_

“No! The bastard dropped me off at the library. He wants me to find more on the case. I guess on how we can pin her down before someone else gets hurt.”

Dean was silent.

_“Head to the house.”_

“Wh-what? Why, what's going on?”

_“Nothing, I just have a really bad feeling.”_

Sara nodded and flipped her phone closed, heading to the Welch's old home as quickly as she could.

 

By some miracle, Sara and Dean managed to arrive to the house at the same time.

“Sammy's in trouble,” Dean told her, handing her a gun. Sara's eyes widened and she immediately took it, rushing towards the house.

There, they found Sam in the car, pinned to the driver's seat with the ghost of Constance Welch on him. She was holding him down while he withered and yelled in pain.

“Get off of him!” Sara yelled, taking the first shots that destroyed the window. Constance looked over at them, no longer the beautiful woman her husband described, now milky, angry eyes glared at them, and she was missing half her face.

Dean joined her in firing his gun, and Constance disappeared. They inched closer, and she quickly reappeared again, pinning Sam down. More shots were fired, some of Sara's shots coming way too close to Sam's face, and Constance disappeared.

Sam shot up, all the pain seemingly forgotten. He looked started the engine and looked at the house. He, then, pushed the gas petal down, and the car shot forward.

“Sam!” Sara and Dean yelled, chasing after the car that crashed through the fence and the house, stopping in the living room.

Sara and Dean hesitated at the gaping hole in the house before rushing in.

“Sam!”

“Here!”

“You okay?” Dean asked.

“I think.”

“Can you move?”

“Yeah, help me.”

The brother and sister pulled Sam out of the car, and Sara pushed his chest.

“You idiot! You could've died! You scared me shitless!”

“You almost shot me!” Sam argued.

Sara paused. “Almost.... I almost shot you. But I didn't.”

“Guys,” Dean said seriously, and the two stopped bickering and looked where he was looking.

Constance was holding a picture, glaring at the three of them. She tossed the picture aside and quickly moved, and her energy shot a dresser from the wall towards them, pinning them to the car. Sara groaned in pain, hunching over.

_That's gonna bruise tomorrow._

The Winchesters tried to move the dresser with no avail. Eventually, they gave up and looked at the ghost of Constance, who had a fearful and terrified expression. Electricity began to crackle, dimly powering all the lights in the home. The four of them looked around, confused, and it was Constance who turned and saw the water running down the stairs.

Two dimly lit silhouettes of Constance's children stood at the top of the stairs. Whispers of “momma” could be heard, and Sara instinctively reached for Dean's hand.

Constance, still moving in short bursts, moved to stand at the landing of the stairs. Water continued to fall down the stairs, making it the only sound in the home.

“You've come home to us, mommy,” the children said together, holding hands. Sara knew, by the way the children sounded, they were still angry with their mother for drowning them.

Constance turned, and her two children were standing in front of her. She barely had time to react before they embraced her. Constance's screams filled the home, her ghost flashing to a skeleton and back. The three of them flinched, and Sara's bottom lip trembled.

Then, it was over.

The sound of a drain gurgling could be heard, and Constance was gone.

They pushed the dresser over, which fell with a loud clang, and went to investigate where Constance was taken. All that remained was a puddle of water.

“So this is where she drowned her kids?” Dean asked.

“That's why she could never go home,” Sam answered. “She was too scared to face them.”

“I see why,” Sara grumbled, and Dean smirked, rustling her hair. He didn't let his arm fall back to his side, though, he rested it on her shoulders. Sara leaned into him, grateful and still shaken. She didn't know why seeing demons being taken affected her so much, but it did every time.

“You found her weak spot,” Dean said. “Nice work, Sammy.”

Sam laughed, and Dean walked over to his car, taking Sara with him.

“Yeah, I wish I could say the same for you! What were you two thinking, shooting Casper in the face, you freaks?”

“Hey, we saved your ass. I'll tell you another thing – if you screwed up my car, I'll kill you.”

Sara laughed, and so did Sam.

 


	5. The Same Demon Twice

The Same Demon Twice

 

Soon, they were on the road, no clear destination in mind, just driving.

“Okay, here's where dad went,” Sam said. “It's called Blackbottle Ridge, Colorado.”

“Sounds charming,” Dean replied. “How far?”

“About 600 miles.”

“If we shag ass we can make it by morning,” Sara said sleepily.

“Guys, uh...”

“You're not going,” Dean asked. The way he worded it, though, it wasn't a question.

“The interview is in, like, 10 hours, I gotta be there.”

Dean nodded. “Yeah... yeah whatever, I'll take you home.”

 

They arrived at Sam's apartment, though something felt... off. Sara blamed it on the fact that she was saying goodbye to her twin, after hoping he would change his mind.

“You'll call me when you find him?”

Dean and Sara nodded.

“Maybe I can meet up with you later, huh?”

“Yeah, all right.”

Dean started the car, and Sara climbed into the passenger seat.

“Sam,” Dean called.

“We made one hell of a trio back there.”

“Yeah,” Sam replied. Dean said nothing more, and she watched Sam walk towards the door before opening her car door.

“Sam, wait!”

He turned and looked at her as she got out. She threw her arms around his shoulders, and he set his bag down before embracing her, even going so far as to lift her off the ground. Sara laughed.

“Don't be a stranger, okay? Please,” she begged.

“I won't, I promise.”

“Try to meet up with us?” she asked as he set her down. She pulled away slightly to look at him.

“I will if I can. I promise,” he replied, and she smiled. She stood on her tip-toes and kissed his cheek.

“I love you, Sammy.”

“Love you, too, Bug,” he said, ruffling her hair. Sarah laughed at her childhood nickname – coming from a time when she pointed to an insect and said “bug!”. After her father asked her if she was a bug and she said yes, the nickname stuck with the family, though mainly between her father and Sam. She knelt down, handing him his bag, which he took. Before she walked away, he kissed the top of her head, causing her to smile.

Sara got back into the car, locking eyes with Dean before sighing and shrugging. He put the car in drive and started to drive away.

As they got further away, the knot in Sara's stomach grew bigger. It wasn't sadness, it wasn't guilt... it was fear.

She looked at Dean, whose eyes were glazed over in thought.

“Do you feel it too?” she asked, and he nodded.

“Turn around. Something's not right.”

Dean nodded again before turning the car around.

The car was parked, and the two hurriedly got out. They tried to open the door, but it was locked.

When Sara listened closely, she could hear Sam yelling.

“Break it down,” she told Dean. “I hear him, he's yelling something.”

She stood back, and Dean, after a couple of tries, kicked the door down. The two siblings ran inside and to the bedroom, which was on fire.

“Jess! Jess!”

Sara looked up at the ceiling, where Jess was frozen, engulfed in fire.

_This was how mom died..._

_But how could it be the same demon twice?_

_After 22 years?_

Dean ran into the room, grabbing Sam by the shoulders and pushing him out of the room. The three of them ran out of the house, immediately calling 911.

 

After letting Sam know that she was here for him, Sara left him alone to stand by Dean, who was watching the paramedics, no doubt having flashbacks to when mom died.

“How is he?”

“He won't talk to me, but that's not a surprise. He keeps messing with the guns...”

Dean nodded, and the two walked over to the trunk.

The two brothers exchanged a look before Sam looked at Sara, whose eyes were pleading for him to talk, at least yell at them.

But all he did was sigh and throw the gun into the trunk.

“We got work to do.”

_Yes... yes we have lots of work to do._

Sara's eyes widened, and she stopped cold.

_No... not not again... please go away..._

_You can't get rid of me Sara darling, not so easily._

 


	6. After Jess

After Jess

 

They stayed in California for a week, attending Jess's funeral and digging around for the demon that killed her and their mother 22 years ago. It was at Dean's insistence that they head to Colorado.

Sara sighed and looked at her twin, who was sleeping in the passenger seat. By the way his eyes were moving rapidly, she could tell he was having a nightmare. She pursed her lips and rubbed his shoulder, sadness twinging in her heart. She jumped back when he shot up, eyes wide and awake.

“You okay?” Dean asked.

“Yeah, I'm fine.”

“Another nightmare?”

Sam cleared his throat, but didn't answer. Sara, once again, placed her hand on his shoulder, and he looked back at her. The twins had a silent discussion before Dean spoke again.

“Want to drive for awhile?” he asked.

Sam laughed. “In your whole life, you never once asked me that.”

“Just thought you might want to. Never mind.”

“Look, man, you're worried about me. Both of you are, I get it. And thank you, but I'm perfectly okay.”

“Mm-hmm...” Sara mumbled, and Sam looked back at her for a moment before grabbing a map from the dashboard.

“All right,” he said. “Where are we?”

“We're just outside of Grand Junction,” Dean informed him.

Sam sighed, his eyes glued to the map. “You know what, maybe we shouldn't have left Stanford so soon.”

Sara sighed. “Sammy – Sam, sorry – we dug around there for a week, we came up with nothing.”

_You didn't try, did you, Sara dear? You want your brother to suffer, don't you?_

_Shut up. Shut up. Please shut up._

“If you wanna find the thing that killed Jessica...”

“We gotta find dad first,” Sam finished.

“He just... knows more about it than we do. You know how long he's been hunting that thing,” Sara added. “I'm sorry, Sam...”

“Not to mention, dad disappearing, and this thing showing up again after 20 years? It's not a coincidence. Sara's right, dad will have answers, he'll know what to do.”

“It's weird, man... these coordinates he left us, this Black Water Ridge...”

“What about it?” Sara asked.

“There's nothing there... it's just woods. Why is he sending us to the middle of nowhere?”

_The middle of nowhere, hm? You could kill them if you wanted, no one would hear them scream!_

“Obviously something's there if dad wants us to check it out. I mean, he left behind his journal to go to this place. That says something, right?” Sara said, shaking off the maniacal laughter in her head.

Dean shrugged, and they continued to drive.

 

Soon after passing a sign that said “ _Welcome to Lost Creek, Colorado_ ”, they found themselves in a ranger's cabin.

“So, Black Water Ridge is pretty remote,” Sam stated, standing next to Sara and looking at a map.

“It's cut off by these canyons here,” Sara added, pointing to the canyons on the map. “Rough terrain, dense forest...”

“Abandoned silver and gold mines all over the place,” Sam finished.

“Dude, check out the size of this freakin' bear!” Dean said, staring at a picture of a larger than life grizzly bear.

“And a dozen or more grizzlies in the area,” Sara replied. “It's no nature hike, that's for sure.”

“You three aren't plannin' to go out near Black Water Ridge, by any chance?”  
The three turned to see a ranger, holding a cup of coffee in one hand, the other resting on his hip.

“Oh, no sir, we're environmental-study majors from U.C. Boulder – just working on a paper,” Sam replied.

“Recycle, man,” Dean added, and Sara rolled her eyes.

“Bull,” the ranger said, and Sara looked at her brothers, her eyes wide. The two looked back at her, expressions equally as confused and fearful.

“You're friends with that Hailey girl, right?” the ranger added.

“Yes,” Sara said after a short pause. She had no idea who “Hailey” was, but she would roll with it. Maybe the ranger would tell them something important. “Yes we are, Ranger... Wilkinson.”

“Well, I will tell you exactly what I told her,” Ranger Wilkinson said to her. “Her brother filled out a backcountry permit saying he wouldn't be back from Black Water until the 24. So it's not exactly a missing persons now, is it? Tell that girl to quit worryin', I'm sure her brother's just fine.”

“We will,” Dean promised, though they had no idea who this girl was. “That Hailey is quite a pistol, huh?”

“ _That_ is putting it mildly,” the Ranger said, obviously annoyed.  
“Actually, you know what would help? If I could show her a copy of the backcountry permit – you know, so she could see her brother's return date.”

The Ranger looked at the before nodding and making a copy of the permit. They thanked him and left.

“Yeah,” Dean said with a chuckle, folding the paper. Sara rolled her eyes.

“What, you cruising for a hook up or something?”

“What do you mean?”

“The coordinates point to Black Water Ridge, so what are we waiting for? Let's just go find dad, why even talk to this girl?”

“Maybe we should know what we're walking into before we actually walk into it,” Dean said, joining Sara in her confused look.

“What?” Sam asked, noting their looks.

“Since when are you all 'shoot first, ask questions later', anyway?” Sara asked.

“Since now,” Sam answered shortly, getting into the car.

Dean and Sara exchanged a worried and confused look before Sara shrugged, climbing into the backseat.

 

They drove to the address of the Hailey the park ranger had told them about. After parking the car, they knocked on the front door. After a few moments, a girl with dark, curly hair opened the door.

“You must be Hailey Collins,” Dean said. “I'm Dean, this is Sam and Sara, we're Rangers with the park service. Ranger Wilkinson sent us over, we wanted to ask you some questions about your brother, Tommy.”

“Let me see some I.D.,” Hailey said.

Dean nodded and pulled a false I.D. out of his pocket, displaying it for Hailey to read, which she did.

“Come on in,” she said, opening the screen door for them.

“Thanks.”

“That yours?” Hailey asked when she noticed Dean's car.

“Yeah.”

“Nice car.”

They entered the home, standing in the dining room while Hailey put food on the table for her younger sibling.

“So if Tommy's not due back for awhile, what makes you think he's missing?” Sara asked.

“He checks in every day by cell. He e-mails photos, stupid little videos, but we haven't heard anything in over three days now.”

“Well maybe he can't get cell reception,” Sam concluded.

“He's got a satellite phone, too.”

“Could it be he's just having fun and forgot to check in?” Dean asked.

“He wouldn't do that,” the boy sitting at the table told them.

“Our parents are gone – it's just my two brothers and me. We all keep pretty close tabs on each other.”

Sara sighed and ran a hand over her ponytail, causing it to fall from her shoulder.

“Can I see the pictures he sent you?” Sam asked.

Hailey nodded and took them to her computer, where she pulled up a folder filled with pictures her brother had sent.

“That's Tommy,” she said, beginning to scroll through them.

“This is his last message,” Hailey told them when they came across a video.

“ _Hey Hailey! Day six, we're still out near Black Water Ridge. We're fine, keeping safe, so don't worry, okay? Talk to you tomorrow.”_

Sara's eyebrows furrowed. Had she seen something moving in the background?

_You're seeing things. You're a crazy bitch._

_Leave me alone, please..._

“Well, we'll find him, we're heading out to Black Water Ridge first thing,” Dean promised.

“Then maybe I'll see you there,” Hailey replied. “Look, I can't sit around here anymore. So I hired a guide. I'm heading out in the morning, and I'm gonna find Tommy myself.”

“I think I know how you feel...” Dean muttered.

“Hey, you mind forwarding these to me?” Sam asked. From his tone, Sara guessed he saw the moving figure in the background as well.

“Sure.”

 


	7. Into the Woods

Into the Woods

 

“So, Black Water Ridge doesn't get a lot of traffic – local campers, mostly,” Sam said when they sat down. It was a little later in the day, and they had found a local bar where they could sit and talk, but most likely, get food and a couple of drinks.

“But this past April, two hikers went missing out there, they were never found.”

“Any before that?”

“Yeah. In 1982, eight different people all vanished in the same year. Authorities said it was a grizzly attack.”

Sara looked at the old newspaper article Sam had found.

“And, again, in 1959, and again, before that, in 1936,” Sam finished. He pulled his laptop out of his backpack, which had Tommy's video on the screen.

“Every 23 years,” Sara mused.

“Just like clockwork,” Sam replied. “Okay, watch this. I downloaded Tommy's video to the laptop – check this out.”

Sam played the video in slow motion, where someone – or something, more likely – was, indeed, running in the background.

“I knew it,” Sara breathed.

_Don't think you're not crazy. You are, Sara._

_I told you to leave me alone!_

“Do it again,” Dean said, leaning forward in his chair.

Sam played the video again, where they saw the shadow run again.

“That's three frames, a fraction of a second. Whatever this thing is, it can move.”

“I told you somethin' weird was going on!” Dean said, hitting Sam's arm.

“Yeah, I got one more thing,” Sam told them, shutting his laptop. “In '59 one camper survived the supposed grizzly attack. Just a kid – barely crawled out of the woods alive.”

“Is there a name?” Sara asked. “Is he still alive?”

Sam nodded, a ghost of a smile on his face.

 

“Look Ranger, I don't know why you're askin' me about this. It's public record, I was just a kid! My parents got mauled by a --”

“Grizzly?” Sam finished. “That's what attacked them?”

The man – Mr. Shaw – after a long pause, nodded, turning to them.

“The other people that went missing that year... those bear attacks, too?” Dean asked.

“What about all the people that went missing this year?” Sara asked him. “Same thing?”

“If we knew what we were dealing with, we might be able to stop it,” Dean told him.

“I seriously doubt that,” Mr. Shaw said, taking the cigarette out of his mouth.

“And why is that?” Sara asked.

“I don't see what difference it would make,” he answered. “You wouldn't believe me. Nobody ever did.”

“Oh, sir, I can promise you, we would,” Sara replied, stepping closer to him. Her expression softened, and she knelt down in front of him, taking his hands. She found that usually people opened up if she did this. “Just tell us what you saw, please.”

“Nothing...” Mr. Shaw told her, his eyes locking with her blue ones. “It moved too fast to see. It hid too well. I heard it, though... roar...”

Sam and Dean looked at each other, but Sara's eyes never left Mr. Shaw's.

“Like no man or animal I ever heard.”

“It came at night?” Sara asked, her voice low. Mr. Shaw nodded.

“Got inside your tent?”

“It got inside our cabin,” Mr. Shaw corrected, and Sara nodded. “I was sleeping in front of the fireplace when it came in. It didn't smash a window or break the door... it unlocked it! Do you know of a bear that could do something like that?!”

“No, sir, I don't,” Sara answered.

“I didn't even wake up until I heard my parents screaming.”

“It killed them?” Sam asked.

“Dragged them off into the night,” Mr. Shaw said, his eyes glassy. “Why it left me alive, I've been asking myself that ever since. Did leave me this though...”

Mr. Shaw pulled down his shirt to reveal his left shoulder, which had a nasty scar. Four, deep, white claw marks. Sara inhaled sharply.

“That's... no bear scratch,” she concluded, and Mr. Shaw shook his head.

“There's somethin' evil in those woods,” he told the Winchesters. “It was some sort of a demon.”

They thanked Mr. Shaw for his time, and left his residence. From the look on his face, Sara guessed that Mr. Shaw was just grateful that someone listened and believed him.

“Spirits and demons don't have to unlock doors if they want inside, they just go through the walls.”

“So it's probably something else – something corporeal,” Sam concluded.

“Corporeal? Excuse me, professor,” Dean said, and Sara rolled her eyes.

“Shut up,” she scolded.

“So, what do you think?” Sam asked.

“The claws, the speed that it moves – could be a skinwalker, maybe a black dog. Whatever we're talking about, we're talking about a creature, and its corporeal, which means we can kill it.”

Dean walked out to the car, where he popped open the trunk and the weapons case, beginning to fill a duffel bag with the weapons.

“We can't let that Hailey girl go out there,” Sam said.

“What are we gonna tell her, that she can't go into the woods because of a big, scary monster?”

“Yeah.”

“Her brother's missing, Sam. She's not just gonna sit this out,” Sara told him.

“We go with her, we protect her, we keep our eyes peeled for our fuzzy predator friend,” Dean added.

“So finding dad's not enough?” Sam asked, angrily shutting the weapons case and the trunk. “Now we got to babysit, too?”

Dean regarded his brother for a moment.

“What?” Sam asked.

“Nothin'.” Dean replied, throwing him the bag of weapons and moving to get in the car. Sara sighed and followed, getting into the backseat.

 

The next day, Sara dressed in her worn, faded black hiking boots, worn down jeans, a black shirt, and her plaid over shirt. They drove to the trail where they knew Hailey and her guide would be.

They pulled up to the trail, Hailey, the guide, and surprisingly, Hailey's little brother, all looking at them.

The car was parked, and they all got out.

“You guys got room for three more?”

“Wait, you want to come with us?” Hailey asked.

“Who are these guys?”

“Apparently, this is all the park service could muster up for search and rescue.”

“You're rangers?”

“That's right.”

“And you're hiking out in biker boots and jeans?”

Sara bit her lip. She didn't think about that...

“Well, sweetheart, I don't do shorts,” Dean told her.

“You think this is a joke?” the guide demanded. “It's dangerous back country out there and her brother might be hurt.”

“We understand that,” Sara told him, her back hands slipping into her pocket.

“Believe me, I know how dangerous it can be,” Dean added. “We just want to help her find her brother that's all.”

 

They trekked through the forest for hours. Sara walked behind Sam, looking around the forest, desperate for any sign of their father.

“So, Roy, you said you do a little hunting?” Dean asked.

“More than a little,” the guide, Roy, answered.

“What kind of furry critters do you hunt?”

“Mostly buck, sometimes bear.”

“Tell me, Bambi or Yogi ever hunt you back?”

Sara rolled her eyes and twisted her braid around her finger. If Dean couldn't shut up, they might be asked to leave.

_You could make him shut up. All it takes is one shot..._

Sara shook her head.

Roy grabbed Dean's jacket, forcing him to turn and look at him. Sara stiffened, starting to walk towards where they are, but Sam held her arm and shook his head.

“What are you doing, Roy?” Dean asked, though he didn't seem concerned.

Roy let go of Dean's jacket, kneeling down and picking up a stick. He stabbed the ground, and the sound of a trap snapping closed made Sara flinch and Sam's hold on her arm tighten.

“You should watch where you're stepping... Ranger.”

“It's a bear trap,” Dean informed them with a chuckle when Roy walked away.

“You ass,” Sara replied, rolling her eyes.

 

“You guys didn't pack any provisions. You're carrying a duffel bag,” Hailey hissed. “You're not rangers so who the hell are you?”

She grabbed Dean's arm, turning him around. Dean sighed and nodded at Sam and Sara, telling them he would be alright, to continue on. Sara nodded back, and the two continued.

Soon, both Hailey and Dean joined them again.

 


	8. We Heard It

We Heard It

 

On and on they walked, until finally...

“This is it, Blackwater Ridge.”

“What coordinates are we at?” Sara asked.

“35, minus 111,” Roy replied.

Sara and Sam exchanged a look, and Sara's heart raced, and she was sure it was the only sound in the eerily silent forest. What was going to happen now?

“You hear that?”  
Sara jumped and whipped around to see Dean, staring at her with wide eyes.

“Don't scare me like that!”

“Well stop being so damn jumpy!” Dean hissed.

“Not even any crickets,” Sam said, stopping the two from arguing.

“I'm gonna go take a look around,” Roy told them.

“You shouldn't go off by yourself,” Sara warned him. She wasn't even sure what was out there...

“That's sweet,” he said, condescension dripping from his tone. Dean glared at him.

“Don't worry about me.”

“All right, everybody stays together,” Dean told them. “Let's go.”

They walked forward, only for awhile before...

“Hailey! Over here!”

They ran, following Roy's voice, coming across a camp that was destroyed. Blood was splattered on two of the tents. Sara sighed. There was no way Tommy was alive.

“Tommy!” Hailey yelled, dropping her backpack. “Tommy!”

_She's going to get you killed. All it takes is one shot._

_Shut up!_

“Shh!” Sam said, following her.

Sara continued to look around, desperate for any clue, when Dean nudged her. She looked up at him, and he gestured to the ground. Her eyes followed where he gestured, and she noticed tracks. Her eyebrows furrowed, and they followed the tracks, away from the camp. Then, they just vanished.

“Sam!” Dean called, and a few moments later, Sam joined them.

“The bodies were dragged from the campsite, but here, the tracks just vanish,” Dean explained.

“It's weird,” Sara mused, twirling her braid around her finger.

They stood, and Sara sighed, pushing her braid so it fell down her back.

“I'll tell you what,” she said. “It's no skinwalker or black dog.”

They walked back to the others, Dean exchanging a few words with Hailey.

“Help!”

All heads snapped in the direction of the pleading voice before taking off in a run. Sara took the gun from her waistband and cocked it, ready to shoot at any moment.

“Help! Somebody help me!”

The voice stopped, and everyone stopped dead, though in different places, in a clearing, looking frantically in different directions. Sara's heart beat, and she wasn't entirely sure if it was from running, or anxiety. Something definitely wasn't right here.

“It seemed like it was coming from around here, didn't it?” Hailey asked.

Silence...

“Everybody back to the camp,” Sara said. She didn't like the dead quiet.

They jogged back, only to find that the backpacks were now missing.

“Our packs!” Hailey said.

“So much for my GPS and satellite phone,” Roy grumbled.

“What the hell is going on?”

“It's smart...” Sara mused.

“It wants to cut us off so we can't call for help,” Sam finished.

“You mean someone – some nut job out there just stole all of our gear?” Roy asked.

“I need to speak with you two, in private,” Sam said to Dean and Sara, who followed him away from the camp. Once they were far enough away, Sam turned to Dean.

“Okay, let me see dad's journal.”

Dean handed Sam the worn journal, and Sam opened it to a page.

“Okay, check this out.”

Sam and Dean looked at the journal, and Sara's eyebrows furrowed.

“Come on,” Dean said with a chuckle. “Windigos are in the Minnesota woods, or northern Michigan.”

“Yeah, I've never heard of one this far west,” Sara agreed.

“Think about it, the claws, the way it can mimic a human voice.”

“Great,” Dean replied.

“Then these are useless,” Sara said, tucking her gun back into her waistband.

“We've got to get these people to safety,” Sam said, handing Dean the journal.

 

“All right, listen up. It's time to go,” Sam told them when he re-entered the camp, Sara and Dean not too far behind. “Things have gotten... more complicated.”

“What?” Hailey asked.

“Kid, don't worry. Whatever's out there, I think I can handle it,” Roy said.

“That's not what we're worried about,” Sara told him. “If you shoot this thing, you're just gonna make it angry.”

“We have to leave, now,” Sam added.

“One, you're talkin' nonsense. Two, you're in no position to give anybody orders,” Roy snapped.

“Relax,” Dean said.

“We should have never let you come out in the first place,” Sam explained. “We're trying to protect you.”

“ _You_ protect me?” Roy demanded. “I was hunting these woods when your mommy was still kissing you goodnight!”

“Yeah?” Sara snapped, stepping closer until she was inches from his face, sick of his bullshit and attitude. “It's a damn near perfect hunter. It's smarter than _you,_ which isn't too hard, might I add. And it's gonna hunt you down and eat you alive unless we get your stupid, sorry ass out of here.”

“You know you're crazy right?” Roy demanded with a laugh. “All of you!”

_You're so close. No one talks to you like that. No one! Snap his neck, make his face purple!_

“Yeah? You ever hunt--”

She felt hands on her shoulders, pulling her away from Roy.

“Chill out,” she heard Dean tell her. She still glared over his shoulder at Roy, who was glaring right back.

“Everybody, just stop!” Hailey said. “Look. Tommy might still be alive. And I'm not leaving here without him.”

“It's getting late,” Dean stated after a moment. “This thing is a good hunter in the day, but an unbelievable hunter at night. We'll never beat it – not in the dark. We need to settle in and protect ourselves.”

“How?”

 

Night fell, and Dean drew Anasazi symbols around the camp.

“One more time, that's...?”

“Anasazi symbols. It's for protection,” Dean explained.

“The Windigo can't cross over them,” Sara finished.

Roy laughed loudly, and she rolled her eyes, glaring at him.

_One shot, Sara... one shot..._

“No one likes a skeptic, Roy, so shut up,” she snapped.

Dean sighed, and took a moment to go talk to Sam.

_You don't belong here, Sara. You know that it's always been Sam and Dean and father dearest. You were always the odd one out._

Tears pricked in Sara's eyes.

_That's not true..._

_Oh, but it is, dear. You were always asked to clean while Sam and Dean were free to do what they pleased. They never loved you and they never will._

A few tears welled over from Sara's eyes, and she felt something on her shoulder. Quickly, she batted it away, and whipped around, only to see Dean. He was holding his wrist and staring at her, clearly confused.

Sara sighed and wiped the tears from her face.

“S-Sorry Dean... you scared me.”

Dean sighed and slung his arm around her shoulders, pulling her away from the others, but not out of the protection of the symbols.

“What's wrong with you? Both you and your lovely twin have been acting strange.”

“Sam just lost Jess,” Sara informed him.

“I know that. I know that's his reason, what's yours?”

“I... I'm--”

“No, you're not fine. Don't try to pull that crap with me Sara.”

Sara sighed, opting to stare at the dirt ground. Silence overtook them as she tried to find the right words.

_Don't tell him. He'll never understand. He'll think you're as crazy as you really are._

“I'm just... worried about dad... like, really worried. Something's just not right, and his trail is getting cold,” Sara lied.

She felt Dean's fingers under her chin, forcing her to look at him.

“You're lying to me. That's messed up Sara,” Dean said lowly, clearly angry.

“I'm not lying!”

“Yes you are! About dad missing, seriously Sara?”

Sara sighed, looking away from him. She heard Dean huff angrily and start to walk away.

“Dean... wait.”

“No, just leave me--”

“The voice is back.”

After a few moments of silence, Sara found the courage to look at Dean, whose expression was as hard to read as always. She swore she saw sympathy in his eyes.

“How long?”

“The night Jess died, when Sam decided to come with us. And it's more... violent. It keeps telling me to... to...”

“To what?” Dean asked, standing in front of Sara once again.

“To... kill people... when I got into that argument with Roy, i-it told me to snap his neck... it told me that I'm crazy th-that you and Sammy and dad never loved me... Dean, it told me to kill you and Sam, multiple times. It's trying to make me paranoid and... I think it might be working.”

Tears were flowing freely now, and Sara was shaking. How was Dean going to react?

He seemed shocked, but more concerned.

“What about the medication? We could find a way to get it again,” Dean suggested.

Sara shook her head. “It never worked.”

“What?”

“The medicine never worked... I just said that it did so you and dad and Sam wouldn't worry,” she admitted, staring at the ground again.

Dean gripped her upper arms, and she looked up again.

“We're gonna get through this, Sara, I promise you. Whatever this is, we may not be able to stop it, but who knows? I know you're scared, but you gotta tell me the truth from now on, deal?”

Sara nodded, and he clapped her shoulders gently. After a moment, he pulled her in for an embrace, which she accepted with a small smile.

_Now, now's the time!_

_Shut up._

_He's lying, he doesn't care! How dare you tell him! You have to kill him now!_

Sara chose to ignore the voice's comment.

 


	9. The Windigo

The Windigo

 

“Help me! Please! Help!”

Sara stood at attention.

“It's just trying to draw us out. Just stay put,” Dean told them.

“Inside the magic circle?” Roy asked.

_Push them out. Both of them. Do it!_

“Help! Help me! Please!”

Sara turned at the sound of rustling and growling, her heart racing. She wished she had a weapon, but those were useless now.

“Okay, that's no grizzly,” Roy mused.

“Told you,” Sara replied, though quietly.

“It's okay,” she heard Hailey tell her younger brother. “We'll be alright, I promise.”

The Windigo growled again, and Hailey screamed. The brush moved again, and Roy shot.

“Stop!” Sara yelled, but he didn't. Again Roy shot at the brush, and again, and the creature yelped in pain.

“I hit it!” he yelled, leaving the circle and running after the noise.

“Roy, no!” Dean yelled. “Roy!”

Dean turned towards the rest of the group. “Don't move!”

He ran after Roy, leaving Sara wide-eyed. Sam grabbed her arm, and they ran after Dean.

_Why are you following him?! You want him to die!_

“It's over here!” they could hear Roy shout.

“Roy!”

“Over here!”

“Roy!”

Then, silence...

 

Morning came, and they still hadn't found Roy. Part of Sara knew he was dead.

_And you're glad, aren't you? You're glad he's dead, you crazy bitch!_

_Now's not the time._

“I don't... these things, they're not supposed to be real,” Hailey said, clearly thinking out loud.

“I wish I could tell you different,” Dean replied.

“How do we know it's not out there watching us?” she asked.

“We don't,” Sara told her.

“But we're safe for now,” Dean added.

“How do you know about this stuff?” Hailey asked.

“It kind of runs in the family.”

“Hey,” Sam said as he re-entered the camp. “So, we've got half a chance in the daylight. And I, for one, want to kill this evil son of a bitch.”

“Well, hell, you know I'm in,” Dean replied.

“Me too,” Sara added as she stood up.

 

“Windigo is a Cree Indian word, it means 'evil that devours'.”

“They're hundreds of years old.”

“Each one was once a man,” Sara added. “Sometimes an Indian, or other times a frontiersman or a miner or hunter.”

“How's a man turn into one of those things?” Hailey asked.

_So many questions... is she annoying you as much as she's annoying me?_

_Shut up. Hailey isn't annoying._

“It's always the same,” Dean answered while Sara stared at the ground. “During some harsh winter, a guy finds himself starving, cut off from supplies or help – becomes a cannibal to survive. Eating other members of his tribe or camp.”

“Like the Donner party?”

“Exactly. Cultures all over the world believe that eating human flesh gives a person certain abilities – speed, strength, immortality...”

“If you eat enough of it, over years, you become this less-than-human thing,” Sara added, finally in control of her mind. “You're always hungry.”

“So if that's true, how can Tommy still be alive?”

“You're not gonna like it.”

“Tell me.”

“More than anything, the Windigo knows how to survive long winters without food. It hibernates for years at a time. When it's awake, it keeps its victims alive – it stores them so it can feed whenever it wants.”

“If your brother is alive, it's keeping him somewhere dark, hidden, and safe,” Sara told her and her little brother. “We gotta track it back there.”

“And then how do we stop it?”

_So many damn questions!_

_Shut up, please, shut up._

“Well, guns are useless, so are knives. Basically, we gotta torch the sucker.”

 

They walked through the greenery, and following bloody claw marks that they found in the trees, until it lead them into a clearing, where every tree was marked. Sara sighed and stepped forward, running a hand through her long, loose hair.

Sam stood next to her and called Dean over, who stood next to them.

“What is it?”

The twins motioned to the claw marks, and Dean looked at them.

“You know, I was thinking... those claw marks are so clear and distinct, they were almost too easy to follow.”

They were interrupted by a loud growl, and Sara looked around. She was too busy looking around, she didn't notice the blood dripping onto her shoulder. She didn't even take her mind off of the Windigo until she heard branches cracking.

She looked up just in time to see the body of Roy falling fast, and she barely had time to scream before the body fell on top of her, pinning her by her stomach to the ground and successfully knocking the wind out of her.

“Sara!”

She felt the weight of the body leave her back, and she rolled over onto her back. Sam was knelt beside her while Dean was inspecting Roy's body.

“You okay?” he asked.

She nodded, which was followed by a cough and groan of pain. “That's definitely going to leave a bruise,” she groaned.

Sam managed a small smile, one hand grabbing her forearm, the other grabbing her waist. He helped her up, and she looked over at Dean.

“His neck's broken,” he explained.

The growls of the Windigo sounded again, though closer this time.

“Run, run! Go!” Dean urged.

They ran, the green and brown of the forest rushing by them. Sara easily kept up with Dean, Hailey not far behind them.

They stopped when they heard the growling again. This time, they put a face to the creature's growls. Sara's eyes went wide, Hailey screamed...

And everything went black.

 


	10. The Creature's Cave

The Creature's Cave

 

All Sam found was Dean's Molotov. No other trace of him, Hailey, or Sara. He and Ben continued walking, though Sam could tell that Ben had lost hope. He couldn't exactly blame the kid.

“If the thing keeps its victims alive, why would it kill Roy?”

“Honestly, I think because Roy shot at it, he pissed it off,” Sam replied.

The two separated, though Sam made sure to keep Ben in his sight.

“They went this way!”

Sam looked at the younger boy, who was standing and holding something in his hand. Sam came closer, and Ben handed him an M&M.

_Dean._

Sam laughed. “It's better than bread crumbs.”

They followed the trail, climbing down a steep incline, until they reached an abandoned mine. Sam looked back at Ben and, with a shrug, entered the mine. The kid followed him, and they walked through the humid tunnels.

Sam paused when they heard a growl, and soon recovered, turning off his flashlight and standing flat against a wall, forcing Ben to do the same.

The creature emerged, bone thin and eerily quiet. Sam heard Ben open his mouth to say something to it, but Sam clapped a hand over the kid's mouth, shaking his head. When they could only see the shadow of the creature, Sam and Ben slipped through the tunnel to the immediate right of them.

They walked, looking for any sign of their siblings.

_Come on, give us a sign, anything!_

Suddenly, Sam heard the sound of wood cracking. Ben and Sam barely had time to exchange a look before they crashed through the floor, rolling down and onto a hard, dirt floor.

Sam looked around. Bones, skulls everywhere... this was its lair.

He looked to his right, and saw Sara, Hailey, and Dean hanging inches above the ground, their wrists tied.

Ben went to Hailey, and Sam went to his siblings.

Dean seemed to be more awake than Sara, so Sam went to him first. He had a few cuts on his face, but other than that, seemed to be fine.

“Dean,” Sam said, shaking his shoulders. He received a groan in return.

“Hey, you okay?”

“Yeah,” Dean replied gruffly. “Where's Sara?”

“Over here,” Sam replied, walking over to his twin sister. She, too, had cuts on her face. Other than the deep cut on her cheek and eyebrow, she, too, seemed to be fine.

“Sara,” he tried, shaking her shoulders. No response. He tried again, shaking her shoulders harder.

Still no response.

“Come on, Sara, wake up!” Sam hissed, shaking her once again. Suddenly, Sara's blue eyes opened, filled with fear. Sam knew that look, and quickly clamped a hand over her mouth before she could scream.

“Shh, it's me,” he said after a moment, taking the hand away from her mouth.

Her eyes softened. “About damn time,” she grumbled.  
Sam rolled his eyes. “Asshole.”

“Bitch,” Sara added with a smirk.

“Jerk,” they heard Dean add. They all smiled, and would've laughed if they had the energy.

Sam cut down his siblings, followed by Hailey, and helped Dean and Sara to walk. Both of them walked a few steps before groaning in pain, and Sam helped them sit.

“You sure you're alright?” he asked them both.

“Yeah, where is it?” Dean asked.

“It's gone for now,” Sam replied. He, then, looked at Sara, who was breathing heavily, head resting against the stone wall.

“Sara? You okay?” he asked, and she looked at him.

“I'll be fine. My legs hurt like hell and I think it bruised a couple ribs, but I'll be fine.”

Sam noted that Sara looked away, her eyes squinting shut and re-opening with a look of anger and annoyance. He was about to ask her what that was all about, when suddenly, Hailey and her brother stood, walking over to the sixth body in the room. Sam followed them, and when Hailey began to cry, he knew.

“Tommy,” he breathed. Hailey nodded.

“Tommy,” she tried, touching his neck.

It didn't even take a moment for Tommy to gasp and jerk awake. Hailey screamed and jumped back, but soon recovered and turned to Sam.

“Cut him down.”

Sam nodded and cut the ties, joining Hailey in helping her brother sit up.

“Hey, check it out.”

Sam looked over at Dean and Sara, who were now standing. Dean held up a gun with a smirk.

“Flare guns.”

“Those will work,” Sam replied with a laugh.

 

The six of them left the Windigo's hiding spot, coming back into the mine. Sara, Sam, and Dean walked ahead with the flare guns, while Hailey and Ben stood behind them, helping their brother walk.

They stopped when they heard a growl, and Sara's grip on the gun tightened.

_Careful, now. Wouldn't want to accidentally shoot anyone... or would you?_

“Looks like someone's home for supper,” Dean noted.

“We'll never outrun it,” Hailey stated.

“You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?” Dean asked his younger brother and sister.

“Yeah, I think so,” Sara replied.

Dean walked forward a little before turning to Hailey and her brothers.

“Alright, listen to me. Stay with Sam and Sara, they're gonna get you out of here.”

“What are you gonna do?” Hailey asked.

Dean said nothing, instead walking forward.

“It's chow time, you freaky bastard!” he shouted when he was far enough from the group. “Yeah, that's right! Bring it on, baby, I taste good!”

Sara, pushing aside her worry, stepped into the tunnel to the right of them, followed by Sam. Once they deemed it safe, they walked through more tunnels.

As they closed in on the entrance, they heard the Windigo growling.

The twins scanned the nearby tunnels, but didn't see the creature.

“Sara, get them out of here.”

“Sam, no,” she said with wide eyes.

“Go!”

_Yes... get them out in the open. You could kill them and run, or even blame the creature. You could even make it look like an accident..._

_No!_

_You and I both know you have a blood lust... it is your fault Deanna is dead..._

Sara shook her head and went down the tunnel that was in front of them, Hailey and her brothers not far behind.

Soon, they heard the creature growling, a shot, followed by the creature growling again.

The group stopped, and Sara looked around desperately for her brother.

“Sam!” she called.

She saw him come around the corner, and immediately felt relieved.

“Hurry, hurry! Go!” he yelled, pushing the group forward.

Sara let Hailey and her brothers run ahead, while she kept pace with her brother. She saw the creature coming closer, its growls filling her ears.

They ran, but Sara knew they couldn't run forever, and apparently so did Sam.

“Get behind us,” he said, and the two Winchesters stood in front of Hailey and her brothers. One of Sara's arms formed a barrier, the other aimed her flare gun.

The creature appeared and began to walk towards them. Wordlessly, Sara aimed and shot her flare, but missed.

“Shit,” she muttered as she tossed the gun aside, the other arm completing the barrier. As the creature neared them, Sara's mind raced for a plan, but she couldn't think of one. Her only hope was that Dean would have better aim than she did.

The creature roared, shaking the wooden boards –

“Hey!”

The Windigo turned, and Dean shot his flare, which hit the pale creature in the stomach. The creature twisted and cried in pain as the flames licked their way up it's body, ultimately landing on the ground in the fetus position.

“Not bad, huh?” Dean asked.

“Better than my aim, apparently,” Sara replied.

 

It was agreed that they would tell the police it was, in fact, a grizzly, and that's exactly what they did. Hailey and Ben left in the ambulance with Tommy, and the Winchesters found themselves on the hood of Dean's car – Dean on the right, Sam on the left, with Sara between them. She sighed and laid her head on Sam's arm. She could really go for a nap right now.

“Man, I hate camping.”

“Agreed,” Sara grumbled.

“Me too,” Sam replied.

“Sam, you know we're gonna find dad, right?” Dean asked. Sara moved to look up at her twin, who smiled down at her and casually put his arm around her shoulders. She rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, I know,” Sam said. “But in the meantime, I'm driving.”

Dean sighed and handed over the keys. Sara smiled, stood from her seated position, and got into the backseat.

She laid her head on the window, her eyes closing. Though she feared the dark, for once, she felt safe in the presence of her two brothers. She ignored the voice that told her she shouldn't.

 


	11. We Will Find Dad

We Will Find Dad

 

They were staying at an inn, eating at the diner. Sara had already finished her food, taking to picking at the scabs on her cheek.

“Stop that.”

She looked over at her older brother, eyebrows raised, her scarred one pulling at her skin painfully. Dean looked up from the newspaper he was reading, where he was circling obituaries.

“What?” Dean asked. “You're only gonna make it bleed more.”

Sara rolled her eyes and leaned back in her chair.

“Dad's not dead, you don't need to take his place, Dean,” Sara replied, and it was Dean's turn to roll his eyes.

Sara watched as Dean circled another obituary, and was about to ask about it, when their blonde waitress came over.

“Can I get you anything else?” she asked, leaning against the bar, showing off her exposed cleavage from her low-cut shirt. Not that Sara was complaining.

Dean looked up once again from the newspapers, giving the waitress a smile.

“Just the check, please,” a fourth voice, Sam, answered. Sara rolled her eyes, but looked down at the table, her cheeks dusting pink.

_He totally noticed me checking her out._

_I'm afraid so..._

_Did I ask you?  
I'm in your head, who else did you expect to answer you?_

Sara shook her head, tuning back into the conversation between her two brothers.

“You know, Sam, we are allowed to have fun once in a while,” Dean told Sam. “That's fun.”

“Amen to that,” Sara muttered. Sam and Dean looked at her, both of them had eyebrow raised, but Sam was clearly not amused. Sara's heart beat just a little bit quicker.

“What?” she asked, chewing on the straw to her water.

Dean shook his head and handed Sam the newspaper. “Here, take a look at this, I think I got one. Lake Manitoc, Wisconsin – last week Sophie Carlton, 18, walks into the lake, doesn't walk out. Authorities dragged the water, nothing. Sophie is the third Lake Manitoc drowning this year. None of the other bodies were found either. They had a funeral two days ago.”

“A funeral?” Sara and Sam asked.

“Yeah, weird, buried an empty coffin. For, uh, closure, or whatever.”

“Closure? What closure? People don't just disappear, Dean. Other people just stop looking for them.”

Sara's eyebrows furrowed.

“Something you want to say, Sam?” she asked.

“The trail for dad – it's getting colder every day.”

“What are we supposed to do?” Sara asked, her anger flaring.

_Why is he here if he doesn't think you'll find John... what if he's setting you up for something, Sara?_

_Shut up._

“I don't know,” Sam said, pulling Sara out of her head. “Something, anything.”

“I'm sick of this attitude,” Dean replied. “You don't think we want to find dad as much as you do?”

“Yeah, I know you do, it's just--”

“We're the ones who have been with him every single day for the past two years, while you've been off to college going to pep rallies,” Sara snapped, her voice low. “We _will_ find dad, but until then, we're gonna kill everything bad between here and there. Okay?”

Sam sighed, but Sara saw that he agreed.

“Who died and made you queen?” he muttered.

“No one,” Sara said with a shrug and a half smile. “I've always been the boss of you two. I'm pretty intimidating.”

“Yeah, with your average height and bloodthirsty doe eyes,” Dean contradicted, checking out the blonde waitress once again.

“All right, Lake Manitoc,” Sam said, bring Dean back, and keeping Sara's eyes from flashing to the blonde once again. “How far?”

 

The drive to Lake Manitoc wasn't far, just long enough for Sara to catch up on the sleep she had missed. She woke up just as they pulled up to an old house with a red door. She groaned and got out of the car, stretching and pulling her hair back.

They climbed the steps to the house and knocked on the door, which was opened by a boy who looked to be about 19.

“Will Carlton?” Dean asked.

“Yeah, that's right,” Will replied.

“I'm Agent Ford, this is Agent Hamill and Creed. We're with the U.S. Wildlife Service,” Dean said, flashing a badge.

They walked outside to the lake, where Sara noted the father of Sophie and Will sitting on a wooden bench, staring at the water.

“She was about a 100 yards out,” Will told them. “That's where she got dragged down.”

_Remind you of something, Sara? What was her name again, Deanna?_

_Don't you dare talk about her._

Sara heard a small chuckle, and she shook her head.

“And you're sure she didn't just drown?” Dean asked.

“Yeah. She was a varsity swimmer. She practically grew up in that lake. She's as safe out there as in her own bathtub.”

“So... no splashing, no sound of distress?” Sara asked him, crossing her arms.

“No, that's what I'm telling you,” Will answered.

“Did you see any shadows in the water? Maybe some dark shape breach the surface?”

“N-No, again, she was really far out there.”

“You ever see any strange tracks by the shoreline?” Dean asked.

“No, never. Why, what do you think is out there?”

“We'll let you know as soon as we do,” Sara promised him. She and Dean started to walk back to the car, when Sam asked one more question.

“What about your father, can we talk to him?”

Will sighed and looked back at his father. “Look, if you don't mind, I mean, he didn't see anything, and he's kind of been through a lot.”

“We understand.”

The three got back into the car, and drove down to the person they knew would know the most.

The Sheriff.

 


End file.
